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Welcome to the Politics
Department!

The Politics Department at Ithaca College
challenges students to grapple with complex issues through
questions such as

Are political parties still relevant?

Why do wars happen? Is there anything that
can be done to prevent them?

What does it mean to be "conservative" or
"liberal?"

Is "gangsta rap" political?

Is peace possible in the Middle East?

Should the United States have pulled out of
the Global Warming Treaty?

Is the "right to a home" a fundamental human
right?

How and why do males become men and females
become women?

What does it mean to be a "citizen" in the
21st century?

Why is there so much poverty in the third
world?

Why do democracy and capitalism take
different forms in different countries?

What political lessons can Americans learn
from Nigerian films?

Is the United States an expanding "empire?"
Is that good or bad?

Classes

Our goal is to get students to think
critically, to understand all sides of issues, to be aware of their
own positions and world views, and to recognize the nature and
content of political competition.

Courses cover topics such as the role of law
in society; the dynamics of politics in the United States, Latin
America, Africa, Russia, the Middle East, and Europe; the
intersection of music and politics; the role of global migration in
politics around the world; the causes and consequences of ethnic
and religious conflict; the effect of race, gender, and class on
our perceptions of the world.

Most politics classes are small and
discussion-based. Students have the chance to share their ideas and
debate them with their classmates and professors. Written
assignments tend to be essays and papers in which students
integrate what they've read and discussed in class with their own
thinking.

Global Focus

Politics doesn't happen only in the United
States, and it doesn't happen only within countries. It's a
transnational, global process. Our curriculum reflects this fact,
with a commitment that is reflected in our requirement that majors
gain a basic proficiency in a foreign language. Our courses on the
United States also incorporate a global focus.

International Studies Concentration
for Politics Majors. Politics
majors can declare a Concentration
in International Studies, focusing their coursework on global
topics. In addition, students with other majors can declare a
Minor in International Politics.

Off-Campus Offerings and Internships

Politics majors can earn credit through
internships in Ithaca, Albany, Washington, London, or any place in
the world. Politics majors have interned in the New York State
Assembly, the U.S. Congress, and the British House of Commons, as
well as in other governmental and nongovernmental institutions.
Many of our students also study at universities outside the United
States, including in Ivory Coast, Ghana, France, the Czech
Republic, and Australia.

Cross-Campus Connections

Our faculty make crucial contributions to many
interdisciplinary programs on campus, including environmental
studies, legal studies, women's studies, culture and communication,
and first-year Ithaca Seminars. These programs involve not only
politics majors but students from many different disciplines and
programs. This kind of interdisciplinary experience is part of what
makes our classes exciting and challenging.

Faculty Research

Faculty research interests currently range from memory in South
Africa to the homeless in U.S. cities; from democracy assistance in
the Balkans to the role of unions in U.S. political party
strategies; from the connection between militarism and gender to
the effects of the "war on terror" on upstate New York; from the
role of Native Americans in the birth of international relations
theory to the role of women in Islam; from the deportation of
undocumented aliens from New York City to the question of tolerance
in liberal democracies. Faculty members have published numerous
books and articles and regularly present at major national and
international conferences.

Our research contributes in crucial ways to both the topics of the
courses we teach and the way we teach them.

Contact

For more information, or if you have any questions, please
contact the Chair of the Politics Department, Prof. Peyi
Soyinka-Airewele (email: pairewele@ithaca.edu) or our
administrative assistant Kenesha Chatman (email:
kchatman@ithaca.edu ; telephone 607-274-3146; or fax
607-274-7314).